Personalized Arch Linux Install

The choices made in this guide are based on my personal preferences. The Arch Wiki is a great resource for comprehensive information on the installation process.

Pre-Install

Download Arch Linux ISO
Create VM with 2 cores, 2GB RAM, 20GB HDD
Mount ISO to VM
Change .vmx file to boot from EFI append the following line

firmware = "efi"

Boot VM

Boot and Prepare Installation Media

Check boot mode

cat /sys/firmware/efi/fw_platform_size
# Expected response is 64, if 32 then vm not booted in UEFI mode.

Check Network

ping archlinux.org

Update System Clock

timedatectl

Partition the disk

Identify connected Disks

fdisk -l
# In this instance /dev/sda is the disk we will be installing to.

Partition Disk with fdisk

fdisk /dev/sda

Fdisk commands to create 500MiB EFI partition, and create another partition with the remainder.

g # Sets GPT partition table
n -> +500M # partition 500MiB
t -> 1 # Set 500MiB partition to EFI
n -> defaults # Default options partition the remained as linux FS
w # Write Changes

Format Root partition

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2

Format EFI partition

mkfs.fat -F 32 /dev/sda1

Mount the file systems

mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
mount --mkdir /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot

Install to disk & Basic setup

Install essential packages

pacstrap -K /mnt base linux linux-firmware networkmanager vim man-db man-pages texinfo

Generate fstab

genfstab -L /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
# I used -L to use labels instead of UUIDs

Chroot into the new filesystem

arch-chroot /mnt

Link Timezone

ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/North_Dakota/Center /etc/localtime

hwclock --systohc

Localization

Here we set language and locale. I am using en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8.

vim /etc/locale.gen
# Uncomment en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8

Tip (Vim Search)

Tip:In vim you can type /en_US , then press Enter, to search for the line

echo 'LANG=en_US.UTF-8' > /etc/locale.conf

Set Hostname

echo 'homewrecker-arch' > /etc/hostname

Change Root password

passwd

Install bootloader

pacman -Sy grub efibootmgr

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=boot --bootloader-id=GRUB

grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Danger

Point of no return. Ensure all steps above are completed before exiting chroot.

Exit Chroot & Reboot…

Start NetworkManager service

systemctl enable NetworkManager

systemctl start NetworkManager

Post Install customization

The following sections are requirements for a systems administration class I am taking.

Add Desktop Environment

pacman -Sy xorg-server

pacman -Sy open-vm-tools xf86-input-vmmouse xf86-video-vmware

pacman -Sy nvidia

pacman -Sy plasma-desktop

pacman -Sy sddm sddm-kcm

Important (Terminal Emulator Reminder)

It’s wise to install a terminal emulator prior to starting the display manager. Or you will be unable to access the terminal to install one at that point.

pacman -Sy konsole

systemctl enable sddm
systemctl start sddm

Add users

useradd -m codi
useradd -m ladas

passwd codi
passwd -e codi
passwd ladas

pacman -S sudo vi

visudo /etc/sudoers
# uncomment %sudo ALL=(ALL) ALL

group add sudo
usermod -aG sudo ladas
usermod -aG sudo codi

Customize Terminal

pacman -Sy zsh
zsh
# run through setup

usermod --shell /bin/zsh ladas

# Install oh-my-zsh
sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"
# Step through installer

Add ssh

sudo pacman -Sy openssh

Misc Customization

pacman -Sy firefox